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Old Potrero Hotaling’s Single Malt Whiskey Returns As 16-Year-Old

Old Potrero Hotaling's Single Malt WhiskeyIn the annals of American malt whiskey, perhaps one of the rarest-of-rare unicorns is Old Potrero’s Hotaling’s Single Malt Whiskey from Anchor Distilling in San Francisco. The expression hasn’t been seen on the market in some time, for good reason – there’s only a precious small amount of it to go around. As this year is the 20th anniversary of Old Potrero, however, it seems like as good a time as any to bring it back to market in a 16-year-old variant.

The new Old Potrero Hotaling’s Single Malt Whiskey 16-Year-Old, according to the distillery, is a single barrel release that has been pot distilled from a 100% malted rye mash bill. It was then aged in once used, charred American oak barrels for 16 years before being bottled at 50% ABV.

As this is a single barrel release, less than 200 bottles will be available nationwide. Price point? Around $165 each. Official tasting notes from Anchor are at the end of this story.

The name Hotaling’s, by the way, is said to commemorate “the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, celebrating the survival of A.P. Hotaling & Co’s whiskey warehouse and rebirth of the city there after. Often cleverly remarked as ‘If, as they say, God spanked the town for being overly frisky, why did he burn the churches down and save Hotaling’s whiskey?'”

“From the very first days of our distilling experiments with 100% malted rye mash, we loved the flavor and aroma of the new spirit,” said Anchor’s master distiller Bruce Joseph, who has been part of the Anchor distilling team since it started as a secret project under Fritz Maytag in 1993, in a prepared statement “It was complex and bursting with bold flavors. This 16 Year Old Hotaling’s presents those flavors in a mature, complex and well-integrated way.”

  • Nose:   Rye spiciness, including pepper and cinnamon, with fruit and honey; substantial and complex with a subtle round oakiness.
  • Taste:   Spicy with a hint of sweetness, rounded by the malted rye.
  • Finish: Substantial mouth feel with a long, complex finish.
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